INVENIRE

Foreign aid is a disaster. It often acts against the interest of the British people, while also doing little to help the intended recipients. I will outline why we should discontinue our foreign aid budget, and instead pledge the money to ensuring the welfare and protection of the British people. As the result of a 1970 UN resolution, the United Kingdom, amongst many other developed nations, pledged to spend 0.7% of its gross national product on official development assistance, which is usually referred to as foreign aid. The goal of 0.7% was supposed to have been achieved by the middle of the decade. However, almost 50 years after the resolution was officially recognised, the UK is one of just six countries that are currently observing the resolution; the other five are Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark and the Netherlands. This means that, in 2017, the UK gave over £14 billion in economic aid to other nations. In contrast, France, which has a similarly sized economy to the UK,